Jay-Z Among Seven Cover Subjects for Time’s ’100 Most Influential People in the World’ Issue

Stop The Presses!

Soren BakerApril 18, 2013

People who complained about the attention Jay-Z's recent trip to Cuba received may have to reconsider their stance.

The rapper-businessman is among seven cover subjects for Time magazine's tenth-annual "100 Most Influential People In The World" issue.

On its website, Time writes of Jay-Z that his "journey from hip-hop artist to powerful entrepreneur symbolizes, according to Michael Bloomberg, the American Dream narrative."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote the special profile on Jay-Z for the issue.

Jay-Z is among the best-selling rap artists of all time and has been a successful businessman since the 1990s, excelling as a record company executive, clothing magnate, pitchman, minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets and, most recently, a sports agent, among other endeavors.

Jay-Z has been a fixture in the news in recent weeks because of his much-ballyhooed trip to Cuba with wife Beyoncé and his new song "Open Letter," which discussed the trip and President Obama s alleged reaction to it.

President Obama and the White House have since said they were not in contact with Jay-Z about the trip to the island country, although Jay-Z rapped in "Open Letter" that, "Obama said, 'Chill. You gonna get me impeached. We don’t need this s--- anyway, chill with me on the beach.'"

Photographer Mark Seliger created the seven covers for the "100 Most Influential People In The World" issue.

Four versions of the cover will be available on newsstands in the United States.

Others included among the "100 Most Influential People In The World" list are Michelle Obama and LeBron James, and singers Beyoncé, Frank Ocean and Miguel.